Transfers!

How's it going? It's starting to get INCREDIBLY beautiful here, I bet it's gorgeous there too with all the fall colors and everything. :)

This week was great! PDay was fun, we carved pumpkins and had pancakes with a bunch of missionaries. Stockholm is the best place for PDays. My trainer (first companion) is going home and my freind is going to be AP. (Assistant to the President :) I am really going to miss MOD! :( I know she will email me though cause she's the best. :)

Wednesday was awesome!!!!!!!! Annelie came to dinner and Institute. It was so fun. She is adorable. I said goodbye to her because I figured she was leaving...nooope. Haha. But it was a blast to see her anyways. :) I think she liked the lesson too! We had about 3 other people there too. It was really, really fun. I have absolutely fallen in love with the YSA here. We have so much fun!

OK. What else? THIS. AREA'S. ON. FIAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE. Kind of haha. We have some investigators and english class is blowing up! Jonathon has 2 friends that each brought someone else to the halloween party and we had a lesson with all of them! :) Two other people from English class came and it was just awesome. I have learned that God blesses me the most when I am struggling in certain areas.

I was reflecting on all the things I have learned now that I have been on my mission for a year. I have learned my flaws and my strengths, things I didn't even realize before. I feel like I have become softer and more understanding. I have learned what it means to turn to God. Gosh, have I learned that haha. I have learned that you need to read the Book of Mormon every. single. day. if you don't ever want to doubt the gospel. I have learned more of what it means to love people and how dependent we really are/need to be on God. I could go on and on... but I have a completely different view on life and the gospel. 

A spiritual thought: I have been reading a lot in Romans 8. It is a beautiful chapter. I was praying and then pondering about it.

 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the daylong; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,nor things to come,

 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It hit me so hard. WHO is going to separate us from Christ? For neither trials, nor a difficult companion, nor dark, nor cold, nor exhaustion, nor doubts, ... Trials don't have the ability to separate us from the love of God, but Satan will always try. DECIDE that you won't let it happen. Turn to him instead. "You are not a victim" is probably my favorite thing I learned from Sister Jackson. I believe we sat down with God and told him we would endure these specific trials we are going through and that we would endure them well. We are not victims! Whatever it is, keep going! "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come 'till heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ THEY COME!"

I love you guys so much. Thank you for all your prayers and love! I can honestly feel the difference when people fast and pray for me. I have been incredibly blessed and I am so glad I am here. The church is true! God loves you all! And I do too. :)

Love,

Syster Stetler

 Syster Stetler and her zone using chalk art to share the story of the Restoration

 Syster Stetler, her trainer (Syster Modersitski. left) and her greenie (Syster Jackson)

 Syster Stetler and Syster Sorenson

Syster Stetler and some Halloween fun

Second harvest BEGAN IN STOCKHOLM

Hey guys!!! Guess what.... I dyed my hair! I'm a brunette now haha.... Guess what else??? I have 6 months left. How weird is that??? I don't even know how I feel..

But this week was great! STUFF IS FINALLY HAPPENING. We met with a guy named Harry that we met with when Sister Jackson and I first got here. He is really positive! We had a great lesson with him with 2 members. Also! We met with Nathan and his family. They're adorrrrrrable. We taught them the restoration and they have been reading the Book of Mormon. He has come to church/conference 3 weeks in a row. Also, Jonathon is still introducing us to all of his friends and teaching them about the gospel. He is seriously incredible... If every member was like him we'd have SOOOOO many people join the church. He has so much faith and really prays for these opportunities. We are so thankful for him! Debra is also GREAT. She had us come over and said she wanted to get back on board with helping the missionaries. She is having us over once a week and she asked for 2 Books of Mormon today! MEMBERS ARE THE ANSWER. We are excited to see what comes. :) Our ward is incredible. They are serving each other, holding Family home evenings for investigators/less actives. And I can think of at least 6 people that I know of that are really trying to share the gospel with their friends. I'm happy. :)

We also worked a ton on English class! We have new people coming! I'm super excited :) and we are doing a Halloween party in a few weeks. We have enough Americans to convince the Swedes to party. I don't know why they wouldn't want to spend the night surrounded by people in costumes, eating hand shaped food, and scaring each other in our place of worship. There's really no reason...

Well... I think that was the week :) we need to talk more about Conference.

Two spiritual thoughts: 

First, conference is over :( My first "ponderize" scripture was James 1:22 "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." I was reflecting back on an experience in the MTC when I was with a sister missionary. She wasn't feeling very good and we were going to go to the hospital on a Sunday night. I was feeling pretty upset, because I thought maybe Elder Holland might show up the one night I wasn't at the devotional. I expressed my frustration to Reed and he said "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." It really didn't mean much to me then, but as I was thinking about Conference... I realized I really LOVE to hear the word (I made a countdown to conference..) but I don't know how well I "do" or act on the words. It's all for nothing if we don't change because of the words we heard. There were a lot of themes, so what are your goals? What spoke to you? How will you be more Christlike? For me, I heard over and over again that I need to have a STRONG line of communication with God... I need to pray often and sincerely, and be clean and prepared to receive revelation. I did the "What lack I yet?" question as well. Answer: read the Book of Mormon eeeeevery day. I love you guys! The world is getting scary and confusing. Cling to truth and make sure you are moving forward, no matter the pace.

"The person standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up is better off than the person at the top looking down."

Love,

Syster Stetler

Conference (Part 2)

Hey family! 

Wow. Conference was soooo good. I haven't watched the last session yet, but the other 3 were amazing! I really, really want to go back through and study a lot of things. :) What did you guys think? What stood out? What did you learn? What hit you hard? For me, I would say honestly, that I saw a lot of ... not desperation... but emphasis in their voice. We watched all of them on a really big screen and I really felt like they were just staaaaaaaaaaring into my eyes and speaking with their entire hearts and souls. Testifying with all they had. That was the biggest thing I noticed. But I also noticed a lot about women... why? That was so interesting! Also, a lot about how we need, NEED to have the Holy Ghost with us constantly. We need to have a very clear and open channel with our Heavenly Father if we are going to make it in the times ahead. I always thought the topic of "Sabbath Day" was literally the most boring topic ever, because what can be said about it more than do's and don'ts? Not true at all. Church and sacrament meeting (fulfilling/receiving the benefits from baptismal covenants, receiving a remission of our sins, receiving strength from Christ to continue....) will carry us through any challenge that comes. I never really realized that before. It had a way different emphasis than I have seen before. We should all go through these talks and make constant goals to come closer to God every day. I felt a lot of urgency in the message... emphasized on women, mothers, and youth, especially. 

Other than that, the second harvest started a few days ago! Haha. I was on splits and we got 6 numbers. It was a good day! 

I love you guys so much! It's time to deepen our understanding and turn to Christ! The gospel is true! I felt it be confirmed to me over and over during conference. The church brings safety! 

Love,

Syster Stetler

Conference!!!

HI FAMILY. Oh, how I miss you guys. WHAT'S up with all the end of the world stuff? I've heard quite a bit. What's going on? The reason I worry about the world nowadays is the Proclamation.

"Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."

I also am seeing a ton of division in the church. Those who believe in these things, and those who don't. Those who support gay marriage, and those who don't. Those who served missions, those who haven't. What is happening????

The highlight of the week was easily Shaun! So get this: he comes to Sweden from Afghanistan and he is Muslim. So he meets a guy on the subway also from Afghanistan and takes him to church and he becomes converted to Christ! And he is SUPER strong. So then we meet him... guess where... on the subway. And he is the coolest. We are so excited to get him hooked up with the YSA :) We had a really good lesson with him and he clearly felt the spirit. :)

The other highlight was one of the YSA's traveling with us to Täby and reciting almost an entire Holland talk next to a random guy that must have thought we were super crazy haha. 

I love you guys so much! Have a great week. :)

Syster Stetler